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4.10.13

I need to be shorter...

So today was Papworth clinic day. Now normally I don't get excited about going to clinic because it's a stupidly long car journey for a pretty quick appointment but today I was super excited because I knew I would get to see some of transplant buddies. Now I hoped I'd get to see Kath but knew that I probably wouldn't because I knew I they hadn't managed to wake her up last night so even if they had managed to wake her up today she didn't need me jumping around her as soon as she had woken up lol.

I did get to see Rob, Kath's husband, and their two daughters Rose and Sarah. I was maybe a little excited to see them! Rob told me that they had managed to wake Kath up earlier in the morning, she was responding to people although she still has a tube down her throat but they were working on getting it out. I can't imagine how disorientating it must be to wake up 4 days after you went to sleep and especially with a tube down your throat but it seemed like Kath is coping so well. Kath has taken quite a few steps forward in the last 24 hours, she's off the heart machine and seems to be coping well with that, and they are reducing the dosages of her drugs and all these are all great steps forward and I'm so unbelievably happy she's making progress.

I also got to see Bernice my other transplant buddy who is currently having one of her stays at Papworth to have a bunch of antibiotics. It was so lovely seeing her and I made sure to bring her donuts because every-one likes a treat while they are in hospital.

When I went in to see my transplant doctor she did say a few things that were quite interesting. She told me that there aren't very many of us waiting for heart and lungs anymore as they had done a fair few heart and lungs recently which I thought was a good thing but then she followed on to tell me that she wished I was shorter. Now you may wonder why that is and it's because a lot of the organs they receive come from people who are quite short and this actually matters apparently. This is a good and a bad thing, it means I'm not competing with that many people for organs but it also means they don't receive that many organs that match me because of my height. I didn't think I was that tall I'm only about 5ft 6inches. Thats not tall right?

Yes, height is very important with lung transplants ... Lungs from a six foot tall person would not physically fit into the chest cavity of someone who was five foot two! Similarly, lungs from a short person would not be suitable for a much taller person because they would not be able to meet the respiratory demands of someone of a bigger size. So yes, along with blood group, antibodies, tissue typing, gender - size & weight of the donor is an important consideration for recipient match.

I'm in my 20's and after waiting 3 years,
I underwent a heart and double lung transplant because I suffered from a illness called Pulmonary Hypertension.

This blog is where I documented that journey and will continue to document all the amazing highs and the lows post-transplant. I hope to continue to raise awareness for both PH and organ donation and I would love for you to continue to share this journey with me.